Column criticizing Trump’s speech misses the mark

Re: “The 45th administration: A test of government,” by George Leach, Wednesday:

George, I’m not sure whom you mean by “many” not liking the State of the Union speech. If you mean the Democrats in Congress, some of whom, against protocol and tradition, boycotted the speech, OK. As focus groups showed, the speech was well-received by Republicans, and tellingly, by independents. Those voters went to Trump in 2016, so overall indications are that the speech resonated with voters. There were also topics such at infrastructure and help for Dreamers to which Democrats responded favorably.

That group, incidentally, provided fodder for Democrats’ complaints. When Trump said that Americans were dreamers also, he offended some of the extreme left wing of your party. As a former teacher of history, you know his point was valid. Consider: Plymouth Rock, Westward Expansion, Panama Canal, Wright brothers. space programs, Apple, Microsoft, Jonas Salk..the list goes on.

That is what the president meant, yet some elements of the audience were offended, one to the point he walked out when Congress intoned “USA.” In doing so, he illustrated just how far removed the modern Democratic Party is from the average voter, the voter who put Trump in the White House.

Your conflating immigration control with opening the door “to fire people who voted for the opposition” perplexes me. Mr. Trump discussed security and holding public employees accountable. Improving services to our veterans is a laudable goal: what can be negative about the attempt to do so?

One of the more confusing items in your column is associating the Second Amendment with killing police officers. I suppose the deaths are based on the lack of gun control? As stated, it draws a connection between NRA members, many of whom are police officers, and officer fatalities. I’m no statistician, but more violence is committed against unborn babies than by NRA members against police officers. Most gun violence, in fact, is crime-related, and heroic officers, unfortunately, fall in the line of duty.

Finally, George, I disagree with your assertion that Trump’s economic program will not work. It seems to be based on the liberal contention that money belongs to the government and should be redistributed to make a more equitable society. LBJ declared “war on poverty” through government programs 40-plus years ago. To date, we’ve redistributed several trillion dollars and still have poverty. Trump promised to loosen expensive regulations and to put more disposable income into people’s pockets: another reason a country tired of leftist economic policy voted for him, most notably in traditional Democratic strongholds like the Rust Belt.

Finally, while channel-surfing the other night, I came upon Hannity, who made clear that he was not disparaging the FBI, but that some had made the organization look bad. Trump has said the same thing repeatedly. Politics and police work should not mix. Doing so opens the door to the dictatorship so many on the Left fear.